


armageddon it

by Spikedluv



Category: Captain America (Movies), Salvation (TV)
Genre: Community: intoabar, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-29 03:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: Steve Rogers goes into a bar and meets... Amanda Neel!





	armageddon it

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Into A Bar on DW for the prompt listed above (under summary). Title taken from the song of the same name by Def Leppard with a nod towards the 1998 movie and the tv show Salvation.
> 
> Written: July 15, 2019

Steve had never been to this bar before. Probably wouldn’t be there now if he hadn’t received a coded message telling him to be there that night at nine o’clock. Steve had grinned like a fool when he’d gotten the note despite Sam urging caution. Steve had ridiculously held the slip of paper close to his chest because it was the closest he’d gotten to Bucky since he’d pulled Steve out of the Potomac.

Steve had taken the note out and stared at it until the paper was wrinkled from being handled, and recalled how Bucky had studiously created the code over days of reading and practice just so they could send secret messages to each other from the same room, sometimes sitting on the same bed.

Steve pulled out the note from his pocket and smoothed it on the table so he could read it yet again. A burst of laughter drew Steve out of his thoughts. He repocketed the message and looked around the hipster bar. Steve wondered whether Bucky had chosen the bar because it was convenient for him, or just to screw with Steve.

Steve watched the front door for Bucky and saw the young woman walk into the bar. She appeared jittery and Steve would’ve thought she was planning to hold up the place for drug money if she hadn’t been dressed like a young professional. Not that _that_ meant anything these days, apparently.

The woman went directly to an empty seat at the bar and ordered a drink. Unlike the other single young folk in the bar, she didn’t mess around on her phone, merely stared into the amber liquid between sips. Steve knew it was rude to stare, but watching the woman kept his mind off the time and his fear that Bucky wouldn’t show up after all.

Steve was still watching when a young man took the empty seat next to the woman. The man didn’t speak to her, didn’t even look at her, but something about him made Steve’s senses tingle. The woman, lost in her thoughts, didn’t even spare the man a glance.

Steve watched for a few minutes more while the man sipped from his locally crafted beer and tried to strike up a conversation with the woman. He also noticed a table crowded with young men paying particular attention to the man at the bar. When the man glanced back at the table and winked Steve knew he hadn’t been imagining things.

Steve was on his feet before he knew what he was going to do. He approached the bar and stopped beside the woman. “Excuse me,” Steve said. “Are you Carol? Paula’s friend?” he improvised. “If so, I’m Steve, your blind date.”

The confusion clouding the woman’s face cleared and she almost smiled. “Is your name still Steve even if I’m not Carol?”

Steve smiled at her humor. “Yes, I think it is.”

“Well, Steve. I’m sorry I didn’t see you sitting there. To be honest, it’s been a bit of a day.”

“I’ve had a couple of those,” Steve said. “Would you care to join me?”

“I’d love to,” the woman drawled.

“May I get you another drink?”

When the woman responded in the affirmative Steve indicated to the bartender another round for the both of them. The woman slid off the stool and Steve offered his arm. She looked surprised, but slipped her hand into the crook of Steve’s elbow.

“Such a gentleman,” the woman said. “Paula should’ve introduced us sooner.”

Steve’s cheeks flushed warm and he snorted a laugh.

“That’s not a bad thing,” the woman said, as if worried she’d offended Steve. “Just rare these days.”

Steve waited for the woman to sit before retaking his own seat. A waiter arrived with their drinks; they didn’t speak until he left.

“I could’ve taken care of myself,” the woman said as she sipped at the fresh drink. “But I appreciate your assistance. You probably saved me from an assault charge.”

At Steve’s look the woman patted her purse. “If he’d touched my leg one more time he was gonna get a face-full of pepper spray.”

Steve gave an approving nod.

“If that’s a turn-off, you should probably tell me now. Paula might be upset that her matchmaking efforts didn’t bear fruit, but I’m sure she’ll survive.”

Steve recalled all of the strong women he’d known, starting with his mom and going through Peggy to Natasha and so many others. “I’d have told the investigating officers, if any were called, that he’d deserved it.”

The woman raised her glass and Steve clinked his own to it. “My name’s Amanda Neel, by the way,” she said after she took a sip.

“I actually am Steve,” Steve said. “Steve Rogers.”

Amanda smiled at Steve as if he was an adorable puppy. “Yeah, I got that.”

Steve ducked his head. “It’s never polite to assume everyone you meet has heard of you.”

“Fair enough,” Amanda said. “What’s a boy like you doing in a place like this?”

“I’m waiting for a friend.”

“Oh! Should I leave you alone?”

“No, please don’t,” Steve said. “I’m a little early.”

Amanda raised her eyebrows. “How early?”

“Let’s just leave it at early.”

Amanda gave a soft laugh.

Steve glanced around the bar. “I think he chose this place as a joke,” Steve said a little wistfully. “I’m probably the least hipster person you’ve probably ever met.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Amanda said. “I think you could pull it off.”

Steve snorted. “Not according to Tony. He says I wear grandpa clothes.”

Amanda snorted a laugh, simultaneously spitting out and choking on the sip she’d just taken. Steve plucked napkins out of the holder and handed them to Amanda as he reached across the table to pat her back. Amanda waved away Steve’s hand as she coughed, so Steve cleaned up the table with another handful of napkins.

Amanda finally stopped coughing and sat back in the booth. “That was embarrassing. And on our first date, too.” Amanda coughed again. “Oh man, I hate when that happens.”

“Sorry.”

Amanda waved away the apology. “I needed the laugh.”

“Kind of defeats the purpose if it kills you,” Steve said dryly.

Amanda gave a hum that could’ve been agreement and took another careful sip.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Steve said.

Amanda raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Your day.”

Amanda sighed. “I really would, and at the same time, I really, really wouldn’t.”

“Well, I’m happy to listen,” Steve said. “In lieu of that, the weather? Sports?”

They talked about innocuous topics for a while, then Amanda suddenly said, “I’m an investigative reporter. I was working on a story. I think it would’ve been big.”

“Would’ve been?”

“My boss pulled it, put me on another story. Someone got to him,” Amanda mused. “It had to be someone powerful, because he wouldn’t have caved to just anyone.” Amanda looked at Steve. “Which means the story was even bigger than I thought.”

Steve recalled all the times he’d been told he couldn’t do something he thought was right. “What are you going to do?”

“What would _you_ do? How far would you go to do something you think is right?”

Steve indicated himself. “I think it’s obvious the lengths to which I would go.”

Amanda huffed a laugh. It wasn’t mocking, more like agreement. “Yeah,” she said softly, almost as if she was talking to herself. “Yeah.”

They shared a moment of silence. Amanda finished her drink and set the empty glass down with a soft clunk. “Thank you, Steve. For the drink, for saving that guy’s ass, though he doesn’t even know how close he came, and for giving me a sounding board.”

“You’re welcome,” Steve said. “For all of that. I appreciate you keeping me company.”

“Still not gonna tell me how early you were?”

Steve’s cheeks heated. “He should be here any time now.”

“Well, I’m glad I won’t be leaving you alone for very long,” Amanda said as she gathered her purse.

“At least let me walk you out.” Steve gave a meaningful glance to the table where the guy and his friends still sat.

“That would be nice, thank you.”

Steve offered Amanda his arm again and escorted her to where she’d parked her car. As she got in, Amanda said, almost to herself, “Grandpa clothes,” and chuckled.

Steve waited until Amanda had pulled out before heading back to the bar with a smile on his face. Steve’s breath caught when he saw someone sitting in the seat he’d left empty to walk Amanda to her car. He walked over to the table on legs that felt numb.

“Excuse me, sir,” Steve said as he slid onto the seat Amanda had been using. “I think you’re in my seat.”

Bucky raised his head and gave Steve a small smile. “Still saving damsels in distress, huh, Rogers?”

Steve blushed. “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.”

“Bucky,” Steve said, placing his open hand on the table, palm up.

Bucky set his hand in Steve’s and Steve forgot all about Amanda Neel until a few days later when he saw her name in a news report about a fire at the offices of an online news organization that had left two people dead.

In shock, Steve read the report that Amanda had uploaded just before her death. When he finished it he reached for the phone to call Tony.

The End


End file.
